The Kadızâdeliler Movement in the Ottoman Empire and Its Reflections on the Present

Would it repeat itself if any lessons were learned?

It was a religious and Sufi movement that started during the reign of Murat IV, ended during the reign of Mehmet IV, was given whatever they wanted, and then shook the state to its foundations. You will be surprised that there are many similarities between the issues in this article and today. (Cover image: Jean-Baptiste van Mour's work depicting the Kadızadeliler Movement)

Emergence

It was a movement initiated by Kadızâde Mehmed Efendi, a preacher during the reign of Murat IV, and was named Kadızâdeliler after him.

Kadızâde Mehmed Efendi considered customs and practices that were not included in the Qur'an and Sunnah in the first period of Islam as bidat (deviation from religion), like the Salafists of our time, and wanted the state to be governed accordingly.

Development

As a result of the political, economic and social conditions of the period and the weakness of the state, he gathered many followers.

Imam Birgivi Mehmed Efendi's (d. 1573) Risale-i Birgivi (testament) was the intellectual ground. The opposition of Abdulmecid Efendi of Sivas to Kadızâde caused a major conflict. Mehmed Efendi accepted and claimed that performing whirling dervishes, studying the rational sciences, reciting the Qur'an and mawlid in maqam, visiting graves, performing nafil prayers in congregation, smoking tobacco and coffee, and musafaha (shaking hands, especially after prayers) were bidat, that is, deviations from religion. He argued that the money received for work done in government offices was not haram, but wages. Note that all of these issues are still debated today. We even have fiqh scholars who argue that bribery is not haram.

Abdülmecid Sivasi, on the other hand, argued the opposite on all these issues. But Kadızâde was closer to the Sultan. In August 1633, when he suggested to Murad IV that the fire in Cibali was caused by smoking and should be banned, tobacco was banned, coffee houses were closed and many people were killed. Naima narrates that the sultan promised Sivasi that he would not touch his dervishes, thus conducting a policy of balance. It is interesting to note that today's sects and communities take a lesson from these issues and do not try to argue with each other.

After Qadizada's death, his successors took the debate to the next level and started accusing non-Muslim sects and communities of blasphemy. The leadership was assumed by Üstüvani Mehmed Efendi, the muezzin of the Hagia Sophia mosque. Since Üstüvani Mehmed Efendi gave sermons to the Sultan in the private room, he became known as the "Sheikh of the Sultan". Taking advantage of this closeness, he exiled Mehmed Efendi, the vizier of Süleymaniye mosque, nicknamed Kurdish Mullah, who opposed him. Kurdish Mullah Mehmed Efendi criticized Imam Birgivi's Arabic book, al-Tarikat-ı Muhammediye, claiming that some of the hadiths in it were weak.  

When they were not successful in their intellectual debates, they raided and disbanded some tekkes. They obtained a fatwa from Şeyhülislam Bahâi Mehmed Efendi that "semâ and devran are haram" and attempted to demolish the tekkes that practiced them, dig them down to their foundations and throw them into the sea. They decided to demolish the tekkes, to make the dervishes they came across renew their faith, to kill those who refused, and to demolish all the minarets of the mosques except one. They blamed the administration for the increase in bribery. On the eighth day of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha's grand vizierate, they attempted to prevent the muezzins from reciting na't -ı şerif in Fatih Mosque during Friday prayer. Köprülü Mehmed Pasha immediately gathered the scholars of the time and asked their opinions about the Kadızâdelis and received a fatwa from the sultan for their slaughter. Turning this punishment into exile, he dismissed Üstüvani Mehmed Efendi and his assistants Türk Ahmed and Seyyid Divâne Mustafa, confiscated their property and exiled them to Cyprus on September 23, 1656. Among those who remained, he punished those who took bribes and transferred the second salary of those who received double salaries to the treasury. Thus ended the first chapter of the Kadızâdeliler movement.

After the death of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, his son Fazıl Ahmed Pasha, who was appointed grand vizier in 1661, brought Vâni Mehmed Efendi, with whom he had become close when he was governor of Erzurum, to Edirne. Vâni Mehmed Efendi also followed the path of the Kadızâdelis. He became very close to Mehmed IV. He was likewise "given whatever he wanted". He imposed restrictions on the rituals of the Mevlevis. He had the taverns demolished. He banned visits to tombs. He abolished some taxes, calling them bid'ah. Very violent reactions started to occur. Mehmed IV dismissed his beloved teacher from his duties and sent him into exile in Bursa Kestel in order to alleviate the public outcry. Vâni Mehmed Efendi died in exile on October 12, 1685. Thus, the Kadızâdeliler movement came to an end. 

Conclusion

Sufism is supposed to be a way by which the servant should approach Allah. Today, there are no Ahmad Yassawi, Bahâeddin Naqshband, Abdulkadir Geylâni, Mevlana. There are no Sufis like Ahmad Yassawi, Bahâeddin Naqshband, Abdulkadir Geylâni, Mevlana, Haji Bektash, Yunus Emre, and most of the existing Sufi branches and congregations are seeking material, political and social gains and positions of authority and position by getting closer to the current power instead of getting closer to Allah. The rulers turn a blind eye to this "give and take" for a while with the calculation of votes. 

History is constantly repeating itself.

References:

Naimâ, Naimâ Tarihi, trans. Zuhuri Danışman, Zuhuri Danışman publication. Istanbul: 1969.

Uzunçarşılı, İsmail Hakkı, Ottoman History, TTK Yay. Ankara:1988

Çavuşoğlu, Semiramis, The Kadizadeli Movement an Attempt of Seriat-Minded Reform in the Ottoman Empire (Unpublished doctoral dissertation) Princeton Univercity,1990.

Ali Durmuş, Kadizadeli Movement, Ketebe Publications, Istanbul, 2021.